A win was what Queens Park Rangers, bottom of the Championship, required. In the end, a point against Stoke was something to embrace, particularly after an agonising first-half miss from the hosts’ struggling centre-forward Zan Celar.
Signed in the summer from the Swiss side Lugano, Celar stepped up for a penalty in the 27th minute, this the perfect opportunity to finally score for his new club and equalise after a thunderous Tom Cannon opener just minutes earlier.
Fifteen previous league appearances had brought zilch, but his own fans waited behind the goal ready to partake in this moment of exultation. Instead Celar shot wide, despite the goal music briefly blaring out. The visiting support cackled from the other end.
“To have the courage to take the penalty, he has all my confidence,” said Martí Cifuentes, QPR’s head coach. “If you are not a good player, you are not top-scorer in the Swiss league or you don’t play for the national team. He’s in a difficult moment.”
QPR did not let it get in the way, a Ben Gibson own goal later reviving them, before defeat was avoided when a late strike from Bae Jun-ho was disallowed, with an apparent handball in the buildup.
A draw would have to suffice for a club that have grown accustomed to constant frustration in the decade since their last Premier League stay. Managers and players come and go at QPR but the season’s end remains roughly the same: fifty-something points and no significant cup runs.
Brief moments of hope occasionally poke through. In the summer there was optimism from Cifuentes’s work since joining last October when QPR were second-bottom. He kept the ball on the carpet and solidified things at the back. Style brought safety and whispers of hope, at the very least the sense this season would not bring trouble. But volatility is part of the equation here, it has to be for a club that once counted Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore as owners. Cue the return to reality: they walked into this fixture with one league win this season.
A reliable goalscorer has been lacking since Charlie Austin’s first spell at QPR and Celar is the latest proposal. The Slovenian had an early shot blocked in a game that began with little fluency. Instead it was his counterpart, an in-form Cannon, who opened the scoring midway through the first half, his confidence obvious as he cut in from the left and curled in from just inside the area, his entire team congregating by the dugout to celebrate.
QPR did not pity themselves. Paul Smyth rampaged into the box from the right and was tripped up by Eric Bocat just minutes later. A leveller awaited but Celar could not provide it.
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The hosts created more chances but there remained little threat and QPR’s tragicomic energy carried on after the break when the left-back Harrison Ashby caught the ball by the touchline while still in play.
Some spirit remained. Smyth and Koki Saito, QPR’s wide men, caused trouble with their direct running. Ashby hit the post with a deflected effort and then came the deserved fortune just after the hour mark. Saito dinked in a corner and Gibson diverted it into his own net.
In the race for a winner, Cannon threatened again, a stinging shot from the right prompting an excellent low save from the impressive Paul Nardi. Saito was QPR’s chief weapon, quick feet inside the box to go with a desire to pepper the net: the ground was roaring when he had a deflected shot sent wide in the final quarter. That was as loud as it would get.
